Mick McCabe: Fans camp out for tickets to state basketball finals

8:36 AM, March 7, 2014

Detroit Free Press Sports Writer

As I approached the Breslin Center late Sunday afternoon I knew this had to be the year — and sure enough I was right.

Given the amount of snow and the far-below freezing temperatures that have held the people of Michigan hostage this winter, I was certain the basketball crazies who annually have been camping out overnight to be the first in line to purchase tickets for the boys basketball semifinals and finals would come to their senses and not show up.

There was no evidence of them when I entered the arena at 5 p.m., but when I left at 10:15, sure enough, there they were.

So, they showed up late?

“We were here, but they kicked us out,” said Mike Schut, who lives on the state’s west side in Cutlerville and was accompanied by Greg Jansen. “We had all this set up, but they said they were expecting a huge celebration. So they kicked us out and told us to come back later and they hung a sign up.”

The sign said no one could begin lining up before 10 p.m. for the tickets that went on sale Monday at 10 a.m.

So the guys packed up their gear and headed to Trippers, where they watched the Michigan State women win a share of the Big Ten championship, then returned and unloaded “all this.”

By “all this,” Schut was referring to enough gear to keep them comfortable for a month.